


Personal Guide to Vocaloid

by HandmaidenOfHorror



Series: Vocaloid and Utau Meta [1]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Gen, Metafiction, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29113089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror
Summary: Introduction to what Vocaloid is and my favourite programs.
Series: Vocaloid and Utau Meta [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189031
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Personal Guide to Vocaloid

Everyone interested in Japanese popculture has at least heard of Hatsune Miku, even if not heard her songs. Miku is a Vocaloid, an advanced voice synthetising program used to create vocals in songs. Vocaloids are avaiable in large numbers and varieties that often escape grasps of even long-time fans. Below I’ll try to introduce the software and share some of my personal opinions on various products/characters.

**Q:** Can you produce whole songs in Vocaloid?

 **A:** No, Vocaloid creates vocals only, instrumental music needs to be created and added in other ways.

**Q:** How many Vocaloids are there?

 **A:** If we count Vocaloids by characters (some products offer more than one character in a package), currently (January 2021) there are over 60 Vocaloids avaiable. However, most of these are obscure, and unfortunately most of Japanese female Vocaloids tend to resemble each other a lot in terms of both voice range (high soprano) and appearance (moe-style).

**Q:** Can Vocaloids be used in languages other than Japanese?

 **A:** Yes! The earliest Vocaloids actually had English voice banks, and the most popular Vocaloid characters were added English voice banks later. There are also several Vocaloids developed specifically for Chinese market, and some products, including Hatsune Miku, allow producers to create vocals in Japanese, Chinese and English.

**Q:** How can you group Vocaloid products?

 **A:** The easiest way to divide them is by the age and gender of the virtual vocalists:

  * the biggest group of Vocaloids are products mimicking the vocals of adolescent females. Most of Asian Vocaloids belong to this group, while at the same time it is a rare category among Western (English/Spanish) programs

  * second biggest group are products sounding like adult women. These are much rarer in Asia, while being the go-to category for Western and multilingual programs

  * there are much fewer male-sounding Vocaloids – while intially the producers intended to create „male” and „female” products in pairs, „male” Vocaloids ended up massively underselling when compared to „female” programs. Most male voices are those of adult men – I can think of one Japanese (Len) and one English (Oliver) Vocaloid that sound like an adolescent boy. Piko is an interesting case, as the program can be used to create both male and female sounding voices.

  * there’s also a small handfull of childlike Vocaloids, Yuuki and Ryuuto coming to mind.




**Q:** What are your favourite Vocaloids?

 **A:** First off, the final sound of a Vocaloid song depends on the skill of the producer more than the voicebank given – after all, fans were creating beautiful English and Chinese songs with Hatsune Miku before the program got its voicebanks updated to cover the languages! Every Vocaloid can sound good. Unfortunately, early producers had a tendency to give the characters very high, somewhat mechanic sounding voices that with time started to be seen as the charm of the software. I don’t share that opinion, and try to avoid songs by high-pitched Vocaloids unless I know the producer. I picked five male and six female products I enjoy listening to the most – products that make it hard to achieve the „my ears are bleeding” effect, fortunatelly.

**My top female Vocaloids!**

**5\. Lily**

Lily is a female Vocaloid with a deep, powerful voice. She is perfect for all subgenres of rock. While not one of the Big Ten, she’s nonetheless popular in Japan. If you find a fanart that appears to be an older, long-haired Rin, that’s Lily. She’s most known for her yandere songs, one of which can be heard below.

**4\. Mew**

Mew is a product for professionals – her voice is difficult to perfectly calibrate for a beginner. However, in good hands she is an amazingly flexible voice suitable for various genres of music, though in my personal opinion she sounds perfect in slow, melodic ballads. Her „trailer” song can be listened to in the link below.

**3\. Nekomura Iroha**

A character created in collaboration with Sanrio, Iroha is depicted as a girl dressed as a cat (not exactly a catgirl). She has a Hello Kitty mascot! Surprisingly for such an origin, Iroha has a deep, serious voice – her voice provider is actually a male singer! In the video below Iroha sings a cover of Rin’s famous song „Meltdown”.

**2\. Meiko**

Meiko was the first Vocaloid released in Japanese, and in the years of existence she gained a large body of songs. Her voice by itself is not that remarkable, simply that of an adult woman, but since for six years she’s been the only one filling the niche, she’s been more popular than what her characteristics may suggest. While every Vocaloid sounds good in good hands, Meiko has the luck of many good producers working with her. One of such works, „Escape of Salmhofer the Witcher”, can be listened to below.

**1a. Merli**

That little-known Vocaloid has my favourite voice – deep and feminine at the same time. She also has unusual character design, resembling W.I.T.C.H. magical girls – fittingly, as canonically she’s a fairy. She’s perfect for fantasy-inspired works. Her demo song can be listened to below. She would be firmly my #1 if not for the fact that she is used so rarely and has few original songs.

**1b. Megurine Luka**

Luka’s main strength is her melancholic, feminine but not too high pitched. She’s perfect for slow, melodic ballads. Luka, like Meiko, has many songs created by a variety of talented producers. Additionally, she frequently appears alongside Miku, Rin, Gumi and IA as a popular virtual girlsband. „Sweet Trap” is my favourite song of Luka’s.

When it comes to duets, Lily+Iroha is my favourite. I personally think their voices complement each other the best! Below you can listen to one such duet, covering a song originally sung by Miku.

**My top male Vocaloids!**

**5\. Kamui Gakupo**

A male Vocaloid with a deep, distinct voice and unique, beautiful design. Gakupo is perfect for elaborate, strong songs, and this is how he is usually used. He often partners female Vocaloids, but has more solo songs than Kaito or Len.

Kaito, Gakupo and Len Kagamine (with later characters often added) sometimes are used as a fictional boysband. One such song can be listened to below.

**4\. Yohioloid**

A male Vocaloid with a voice that is simply pleasant. He has double voice banks, allowing him to sing in Japanese and English – she was actually produced by an American company and is much more popular in Western fandom than in Japan. His songs are often duets with Olivier.

**3\. Oliver**

The most popular English Vocaloid. He’s the only one to have multiple original songs. This Vocaloid has a sweet, child-like voice, but surprisingly his songs are often very creepy. He has a fair share of duets with Yohioloid, like the one below.

**2\. ZOLA Project**

This is the perfect product if you are interested specifically in male voices. ZOLA Project offers three voices designed to blend well together. There are not many original songs for the trio, sadly. You can listen to their most famous song below.

**1\. Utatane Piko**

Piko is an amazing Vocaloid – while advertised as male, you can use him to create vocals of any gender, with his preferred range being a countertenor. Piko is just so fun to listen to! Below is his lively song „Legend of the night”.


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